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Tribulus terrestris is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae, native to the warm temperate and tropical regions of the Old World in southern Europe, southern Asia, throughout Africa, and Australia.

It thrives even in desert climates and poor soil.

Like many other weedy species, this plant has many common names, including bindii, bullhead, burra gokharu, caltrop, cat's head, devil's eyelashes, devil's thorn, devil's weed, goathead, puncturevine, and tackweed.

They form an annual, mat of a prostrate vine - generally less than 1" high, spreading to about 5' long. On the Arizona Department Of Agriculture is classified as a Regulated and Restricted Noxious Weed that Arizona wants to keep out.

Look at the flowers of the bottom two photos and compare them with the top two photos. A defense mechanism against drought is that when it is near the middle hot time of the day or if the soil becomes dry, the flowers do not open their petals. The bottom two photos were taken during a hot time of the day.

This is an obnoxious weed whose seeds are incredibly painful to step on, they easilly puncture your bicycle tires, and sometimes have to be pulled out of your pets' paws.

George can often remember when as a barefoot child, growing up in Arizona, he would accidentally run into a patch of these aweful bullheads. Ouch!

On the good side the plant may have some medicinal purposes.

The plant has been used in folk medicine throughout history, treating such wide-ranging conditions as headache, nervous disorders, constipation, and sexual dysfunction. In China, it has been touted for use in liver, kidney, urinary, and cardiovascular remedies. We have noticed that it is now showing up in health food stores and drug stores in Arizona.

Scientific studies have shown that T. terrestris can enhance sexual behavior in an animal model. It appears to do so by stimulating androgen receptors in the brain.

T. terrestris is now being promoted as a booster for the purpose of increasing sex drive. Its use for this purpose originated from a Bulgarian study conducted in the 1970s, which found effects on free testosterone and luteinizing hormone in men belonging to infertile couples.

Other studies have said that T. terrestris has little effect.

We have placed ads from Amazon.Com on this page which sell Tribulus terrestris Male Supplements.

Quick Notes:

Height: Up To About 1 inch. Spreading out to about 5 foot wide from top of taproot, hairy, becoming nearly glabrous.

Seeds: 5-segmented, 1/4 inch in diameter, hard, dry, each segment with 2-4 stout spines to 1/3 inch long; seeds 2-5 per segment, small. At maturity, the fruit is dry and split into five segments, called nutlets. Viable seeds can also lie dormant in soil for up to 20 years.